Bessie May Skeels (Lundgren)
Bessie May Skeels was an Andover resident and nurse who was accused of murdering her employer, Miss Florence W. Gay, a teacher at Abbot Academy. Florence Gay who resided at 35 School Street in Andover died on December 13, 1917 while in the care of Mrs. Skeels.
Born Elizabeth May Wilkins in 1876 in England, Bessie May (sometimes spelled Bessie Mae) married Frank Skeels, a New Jersey native and a Singer Sewing Machine manager who died in January 1908. [1] [2]
Skeels was first arrested on larceny charges for stealing jewelry and other belongings from the Gay household, where she worked as a caregiver for Florence Gay and her mother, Rosamond. [3] At the time, an investigation was underway to determine whether Miss Gay had been poisoned with arsenic, even though her death certificate listed a cerebral hemorrhage as the official cause of death. [4] While she was in jail awaiting trial for the Gay murder, Skeels was indicted for murdering her brother Albert Wilkins of New Jersey who died in July of 1917 when an autopsy provided evidence that he had been poisoned with sugar of lead. [5] [6] [7] In March 1919, Skeels was accused of the murders of her mother, Elizabeth Wilkins and her sister-in-law, Mary Wilkins of New Jersey. Both women’s bodies were exhumed in an effort to uncover evidence of arsenic poisoning. Ultimately, autopsies ordered by Hudson County, NJ prosecutors found no traces of arsenic in either woman's body. [8] Also while awaiting trial, Miss Skeels became dangerously ill and was released into the care of the Lundgren family of Andover. While out on bail, Miss Skeels married Alfred J. Lundgren of Whittier Street, Andover at an Episcopal church in Brookline. [9] Nicknamed in the press "The Sunshine Nurse," Skeels was found innocent of the charges against her in the case of the death of Florence Gay on July 3, 1919 after a 21 day trial. [10] [11]
The body of Florence M. Gay, interred in Andover's Spring Grove Cemetery, was exhumed three times in a successful attempt to establish definitive evidence that she had arsenic in her stomach. [12]
Prior to her notoriety as an accused murderer in the national press, Mrs. Skeels was known throughout the Merrimack Valley as a popular elocutionist and piano soloist. The Evening Tribune of Lawrence reports on dozens of occasions spanning from 1906-1918 that Skeels was performing dramatic and scripture readings and playing piano solos at Methodist churches and social clubs in Lawrence, Methuen and Salem, NH. Bessie Skeels was active in the Women's Christian Temperance Union and in the International Organization of Good Templars (I.O.G.T.), a sorority and a fraternal organization that promoted abstinence from alcohol. Skeels was elected Vice Templar in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F), a community service, humanitarian organization, with roots in 18th century England still in existence today. Soon after her exoneration, Mrs. Lundren resumed her life in the community leading plays, choral performances and dramatic readings with adults and children. [13]
Bessie May Skeels Lundren, then a resident of North Andover, died at Lawrence General Hospital in December 1943. [14] She is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery near the plot where Florence W. Gay is also buried.
In 2007, The Andover Townsman columnist, Bill Dalton, authored a three-part detailing the story of Bessie May Skeels. [15] [16] [17] Dalton's 2013 book, Legendary Locals of Andover features a page-length profile of Bessie May Skeels Lundgren and her photograph.
REFERENCES
- ↑ Funeral of F.E. Skeels, The Evening Tribune (Lawrence, MA), January 3, 1908, p.1
- ↑ Taken to New Jersey for burial, The Evening Tribune (Lawrence, MA), April 29, 1908, p. 6
- ↑ Mrs Skeels held for murder Widely known woman arraigned in court for death of Miss Gay in Andover, The Evening Tribune (Lawrence, MA), September 3, 1918, p. 1.
- ↑ Serious charge Mrs. Bessie Skeels arrested on charge of larceny. The Andover Townsman, August 30, 1918, p.4
- ↑ Another Chapter in the Skeels Case, Daily Evening Item, (Lynn, MA) December 10, 1918, p. 7
- ↑ A new charge, The Andover Townsman, December 6, 1918, p. 1.
- ↑ Positively denied giving of arsenic, The Evening Tribune (Lawrence, MA), June 26, 1919, p.5.
- ↑ No Poison Found in Wilkins Analysis, Daily Evening Item, (Lynn, MA) March, 25, 1919, p. 8.
- ↑ Mrs Skeels weds, The Andover Townsman, March 21, 1919.
- ↑ Bessie May Skeels Declared Innocent, The Evening Tribune,(Lawrence, MA) July 5, 1919, p. 12.
- ↑ Mrs. Skeels calmly awaits jury decision on fate, The Boston Traveler, July 3, 1919, p. 3.
- ↑ Both sides line up for battle in murder trail, The Bayonne Times (NJ), June 12, 1919.
- ↑ The Evening Tribune (Lawrence, MA), April 30, 1921.
- ↑ Obituary, The Andover Townsman, December 23, 1943, p. 6.
- ↑ Dalton, Bill, Cries of murder poisoning in 1919 Andover, The Andover Townsman, November 1, 2007, p. 28.
- ↑ Dalton, Bill. A look into the life of an accused killer, The Andover Townsman, November 8, 2007, p.28
- ↑ Dalton, Bill, Murder trial ends with Independence Day, The Andover Townsman, November 15, 2007, p.7.
---- Stephanie 17:16, 15 December 2025 (EST)
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